New Zealand made a superb start to the first Test against India at Eden Park, Auckland, with a Brendon McCullum century, leading them to 329 for four wickets at the close of Day 1.

The captain, who had not quite delivered with the bat in the team's 4-0 demolition of their hosts in the One Day International series, finished unbeaten on 143 at stumps as New Zealand made light of having been put in to bat first under overcast skies.

Brendon McCullum's 143* is most runs by a #5 on 1st day of a Test vs India
Prev best: 141* by Mike Gatting (183*) at Birmingham 1986
#NZvInd

Kane Williamson also made a century; his 113 another excellent knock that, together with his captain, transformed the day for the Black Caps.

The new ball and the dark skies offered a bit of movement and nip early on, and with Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford and Ross Taylor all falling cheaply, New Zealand looked in trouble at 30-3.

New Zealand vs. India, 1st Test Scorecard, Day 1

New Zealand 1st Innings

Batsman

Dismissal

Bowler

Runs

Minutes

Balls

Fulton

lbw

b Zaheer Khan

13

54

35

Rutherford

c Rahane

b I Sharma

6

42

30

Williamson

c Dhoni

b Zaheer Khan

113

249

172

Taylor

c Jadeja

b I Sharma

3

22

15

B McCullum

not out

143

304

210

Anderson

not out

42

90

78

Extras

0nb 3w 1b 5lb

9

Total

for 4

329

(90.0 ovs)

Bowler

Overs

Maidens

Runs

Wickets

Shami

22.0

6

66

0

Zaheer Khan

23.0

2

98

2

I Sharma

21.0

4

62

2

Jadeja

20.0

1

81

0

Kohli

1.0

0

4

0

Ro Sharma

3.0

0

12

0

BBC

The day was defined by McCullum and Williamson's stirring combination—they added 221 in 51 overs together, and given the pressure India's bowlers had applied in the morning session, it was something few watching on could have predicted.